Donald Alexander Macdonald

Donald Alexander Macdonald

Donald Alexander Macdonald , PC (born February 17, 1817 in St. Raphael's , Ontario , † June 10, 1896 in Montreal ) was a Canadian politician and businessman . From 1867 to 1875 he was a liberal member of the lower house , from 1873 he was a member of the federal government as minister of post. From 1875 to 1880 he served as Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Ontario.

biography

After finishing school, Macdonald worked as a building contractor. Among other things, he was involved in the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal . In Glengarry County he built an industrial complex consisting of a flour mill, sawmill, warehouse, fulling mill and potash salt processing. His political career began in 1857 with the election to the House of Commons of the Province of Canada . In 1861 and 1863 he was re-elected. Macdonald vigorously campaigned for mixed denominational schools. He entered the general election in 1867 and won the constituency of Glengarry. As a member of the Liberal Party, he was initially in the opposition.

After building a section of the Grand Trunk Railway in the mid-1850s , Macdonald founded his own railway company in 1871, the Montreal and City of Ottawa Junction Railway . Because of the founder crash of 1873, the construction of the line towards Ottawa did not take place at first; There was also no money for a bridge over the St. Lawrence River to connect to Vermont . Only after the company was absorbed in the Canada Atlantic Railway in 1879 , construction began. Macdonald remained Chairman of the Board of Directors of this company until 1881.

In November 1873, the Liberals took over government responsibility at the federal level. Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie appointed Macdonald to his cabinet as Minister of Post . To get Edward Blake a ministerial post, Macdonald had to resign a year and a half later. As compensation, Governor General Lord Dufferin swore in him on May 18, 1875 as Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Ontario. Macdonald held this representative office until June 30, 1880. In the lower house election in 1882 he ran again, but was not elected.

His older brother, John Sandfield Macdonald, was a member of the House of Commons and first Prime Minister of the Province of Ontario, and his younger brother Alexander Francis Macdonald was also a member of the House of Commons.

Web links

• Donald Alexander Macdonald . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• Donald Alexander Macdonald - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)